Manchester fringe theatre Hope Mill wins Hospital Club award

Fringe venue the Hope Mill Theatre has won the theatre and performance category at this year’s Hospital Club awards.

The hClub 100 Awards celebrate talent across various industries.

Directors of the Hope Mill, Joseph Houston and William Whelton, received the theatre prize, with the award citation praising them for finding an empty warehouse on Gumtree and transforming it into Manchester’s newest venue.

“The pair gave up their careers on stage to create the grassroots space,” it added.

Launching the space earlier this year, Whelton said: “Musical theatre is what we really want to bring to Manchester. As a venue, we want it to be a complete cultural hub for anything that’s creative: plays, new writing, revivals. But we certainly want to bring new musical theatre.”

Meanwhile, Royal Shakespeare Company head of digital development Sarah Ellis won the award for cross-industry collaboration. In particular, the award honoured her involvement in the RSC’s forthcoming production of The Tempest, which will premiere in November. The production promises “today’s most advanced technology in a bold reimagining of Shakespeare’s magical play”.

Other winners at the event, held in London on October 4, included actor John Boyega, who won the film prize. The winner of the broadcast category was writer and performer, Lolly Adefope, who has starred in Sky1’s Rovers and ITV’s Elevenish.

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Matt is news editor for The Stage, having started as the newspaper’s broadcast reporter. He covers all areas of the industry in his role, but has a particular interest in musical theatre. Matt studied acting at Bretton Hall and presents a monthly theatre news round up on BBC London Radio.